Thursday, May 21, 2009

Just a quick Gallery update. 126 is showing work by Dutch artist Frank Koolen

from May 28th to June 27th. Curated by Maaike Gouwenberg (also Dutch) in time for the Volvo Ocean Race's Galway stop over. The exhibit is titled SPORTSBAR. I like the way this blurb sums up his practice, taken from here

My work can be described as an ongoing search for the ideal combination between the beauty of discovery and the happiness of recognition. A moment in which the everyday and the magical seem to collide, creating unexpected logic.

So if you're in town for the race or otherwise drop by.

I was just chatting with a friend about the cosmetic application Galway is putting on for the race due to the temporary international focus that we will gain. Planters, road repairs, new paint, and parking enforcement. I mention parking enforcement because those that know me know about the pet peeve that footpath (sidewalk) parkers are to me.

this was taken from the Galway City Council site:

‘illegally parked vehicles would include, but is not limited to illegal parking in such areas as disabled parking bays, bus bays, clearways, single yellow lines, double yellow lines, median strips, pedestrian crossings, parking on footpaths and adjacent to junctions. In these cases, while the issuing of a parking offence ticket is still appropriate and will occur, clamping will also be applied as the deterrent with tow-away to be applied where there is obstruction. There is no “grace period” for this category of offence

Let me tell you I had a great big smile on my face after reading that. Mind you, I am not so naive as to think that all this pomp and circumstance will remain after the race has moved on, but it will be nice while it is here. Anyway the opening for the Koolen show is on Thursday the 28th at 8pm with the after party down the street at Bar No. 8 A great little lounge(y) bar that's not a pub.

The Work itself - A short artist statement

I paint / build /create works about that which makes up the individual experience, my experience. I work with that which informs us as to who we are. Family history, false history, narrative, regional constructs, the visual and the physical that we surround ourselves with.I am interested in how one connects all the little pieces and in the end builds a personal, historical and fluid sense of self. A sense, which both separates and connects the individual to the communal. At the end of the day, what I am trying to find through my art, is a sense of place.